Beware

I see today is the Ides of Mach, so that's why I titled this beware. =)

We had a great week, and it started with a wonderful family get-together on Sunday. My sisters and brother (sister-in-law, really) hosted a "Welcome Amanda" party at Old Country Buffet here in Omaha. Not everyone was able to make it but we had a great lunch, great visiting and Amanda was showered with more gifts. She was so excited to see all her aunts, and Grandma and Grandpa, all in one place. She knew Tyotya Nette from phone calls and couldn't get over having her there in person. Every 5 minutes it seemed she was calling out, "Tyotya Nette! Tyotya Nette!" Several times I had to get Lynnette's attention from across the room so she could say hi and Amanda would stop calling her. Too funny! And she was happy to see Tyotya Cindy, whom she knows the best due to two visits and the day trip for the wedding, and they even sang some songs together. Everyone was impressed with her ability to sing "You are my sunshine", and we also showed off a bit of "My Girl" (Motown). She got to meet more of her cousins, so now when we go through the family album, she has names for the faces (I had mostly concentrated on telling her the aunts' and uncles' names). I'm still working on the thank-you cards, but for those who read the blog, let me say a giant Thank You from me and Amanda for being there and making it such a fun day. And another giant Thank You to Grandma and Grandpa for coming down even though they didn't feel the greatest. I would have been sad if you'd had to miss the day. And Thank You to Lynnette, Cindy, Barb, Patty & Cheryl/Mike for planning and hosting the party. It was great!

Since she didn't get to wear the dress I'd planned for her to wear to my friend's wedding, I had her wear it to church, and she looked so adorable in it, I had her put it back on after her nap to wear to the party. We went to early church so we could squeeze a nap in before the party. She did a pretty good job, although she did holler once or twice, just being naughty. She went up for the children's talk and ended up two steps below the other kids. During the talk, she moved up one step, and then another until she was sitting with the others. She does a pretty good job of sitting and listening, even though I know she had no idea what was being said. She smiled at me a few times and I think she started talking to herself at one point, but mostly was attentive. She was so cute I had to try really hard not to laugh at her as she walked back down the steps to rejoin me. Later in the service, I was holding her facing me in my arms while I listened to one of the scripture readings. I could see peripherally that she was just staring at me, and then I noticed that she was watching and blinking every time I blinked. Do you know how hard it is to blink normally when someone is doing that?! I did a few test blinks/ double blinks just to verify and she repeated exactly what I did. That was a mistake as then she knew that I was on to her and she grinned this impish grin. I had the toughest time not smiling, and actually she could tell I was fighting a smile. She is such a fun kid.

Daycare went very well this week. I sang for a funeral Wednesday afternoon, so I picked her up a bit later than usual. She was in different pants when I got there and the afternoon teacher said she'd had a potty accident. She had just been to the potty but asked to go again (big surprise) and the teacher said she should wait. Evidently she was sitting on another child's lap and that's when she had her accident. Two birds/one stone, two kids/one potty accident. Whoops! Sorry kid! I didn't get details on how it played out, or which kid it was. I had left an extra outfit on her coathook in case something happened (I was thinking naptime) but the afternoon teacher didn't know that, so she got put in some extra shorts (18 mo!). She has a jacket that is 18 mo, and it's looser on her than her 3T winter coat is - sizes are crazy.

I watched her playing outside on Friday before I went in to get her. She was having fun going down the slide and walking with a teacher and some kids on a landscape timber (acting like it was a balance beam). I went into the playground area and her face just lit up when she saw me. "Mama!" with high pitch and excitement, and a hug that lasted about a minute.

When we're hugging, she often says, "Mama my-ah", which I have taken to mean "Mama of mine" and I say, "Amanda my-ah". Then we exchange "my Mama" and "my Amanda". It's very touching (this isn't so much when I pick her up at daycare but when we're spending time together at home).

Oh, speaking of things she says to me, I got a chance to ask Galina about a word she has said when I've been taking her to the naughty chair or for a time-out. I have heard her say, "Souka" with a bit of emphasis, so I wanted to ask Galina. It was funny, Galina was a bit taken aback when I told her the word. She said, "Oh, this is a naughty word." I told her I sort of wondered if that was the case. She said it's akin to our word b*tch. Too funny! Here this 4-yr-old has been calling me a b*tch! That just cracked me up. I wonder if she was feeling satisfaction that I didn't know, or disappointment that it didn't get any reaction....

She has started saying 'no' when I say things, like "it's time to brush your teeth" or "get your coat on". I'm not happy with that and am trying to nip it in the bud with time in the naughty chair (after a warning, of course). The other thing that I'm not sure how to stop is her habit of demonstrating something that I have told her not to do, and then telling me she shouldn't do it. Like chewing loudly with her mouth open and then making a big to-do about keeping her lips closed. Or opening her mouth to show me her food and then closing and chewing. I gave her warnings today and then a little time in the naughty chair as I'm tired of seeing her do what she knows is bad manners. And she'll say, "Look Mama" and pretend she's going to pour her milk onto her plate and then will stop and say, "No, naughty." Like I said, she's a fun kid, but some of the little things get old. I'm hoping that when we can actually start to have give-and-take conversations in the same language, she will need to do less of that.

We have gone to parks quite a bit, especially last week when the weather was so nice. She enjoys the slides and the swings. I took her the first time a few weeks ago to the school playground just a couple of blocks from my house. I told her to hang on while swinging, but she evidently decided to find out what happened when she didn't and fell a couple of times. Nothing major - I certainly wasn't pushing her much for her first time. It was really scary to push this little girl on a swing and know that half the time there was no way I could stop her from falling. Swings are scary! And I raced after her last week as she went running toward the swing set with other kids swinging. I hadn't had the chance to explain the danger of running in front of a moving swing. I caught her before she got there, and took the opportunity of showing her that if she gets close, she'll get hit by the swing. So many things have to be explained by demonstration and that can be a bit hairy with dangerous things!

We're been listening/singing along with a great WeeSing CD in the car. One of the songs is Viva La Compagnie and when it comes up I always wonder if I should skip it - why introduce French into the mix? But it's a fun song. It was in my head so I was singing it while I pushed her on the swing, and that night in the bathtub she was singing it. At one point, she gestured for me to sing part of it and we ended up with her singing the first line (in whatever Russian words she chose) and then she would point to me and I'd sing the "Viva La Compagnie!" and she'd sing the next line, etc. It was so funny, and sometimes it amazes me that I know what she's getting at. One of my friends said it's like those moms who can understand their toddlers' words when to everyone else it sounds like gibberish.

Sometimes we talk in gibberish. She'll say something and act like I should understand her, so I'll answer in a made-up language and she'll respond in kind (not in Russian, but in gibberish), and we have this entire wonderful conversation, laughing and chatting, where we aren't saying anything. A nice break for both of us, I suppose!

We read books before bedtime and a few weeks ago we'd been reading Green Eggs & Ham most nights. I found out from Galina that "Nene pudu!" meant "I don't want it!" (she had been saying that over and over while I held her down for the blood draw). I try to read so she understands what's going on, even if she doesn't get all the words, and I used that phrase a lot with that book. It was pretty funny to me to be saying "Nyet house, nyet mouse. Nene pudu, Sam-I-am!" I read it again tonight and have pretty much just stuck to the English, but remembering the Russian/English version made me smile.

There were two Easter egg hunts in the area today, so we went to both. The weather was so cold, it was tough to stand there waiting for the start. I had forgotten to practice at home and show her what it was all about, but I did demonstrate once before the first one started (and put the egg right back, of course) and she did fine. They announced that any egg with a face on it would win a prize (written on a paper inside) and the one in her age group was right in front of us as we waited, so I told her to get the one with the eyes first and she did! She won a windsock with that, which was really neat, and she got a lot of other eggs, too. It had a good pace to it, with the kids making their way to all the eggs. I didn't appreciate it until we went to the second egg hunt (2 hrs later) where there were a lot more kids and parents. When they let the kids go (after waiting a long time in the cold, and Amanda getting squirmy and getting away from me once) it was a mad rush and the eggs disappeared like grass going under a mower. She got about 8 eggs, but only because I dragged her to some and guarded a few. Man, cut-throat! And this was the 0-3 age group! I decided I wasn't going to put her in her age group (4-6) as she would get trounced! Turned out it didn't matter too much. (The first hunt she was in the 1-4 age group.) She did get to see the Easter Bunny (not that she knows about that - just saw a giant white bunny) and we had our picture taken with him before we ran back to the car to get warm. After the 2nd hunt, we came home and a short time later I tried to put her down for a nap and she had a total meltdown. Too much stimulation. I should have skipped the 2nd hunt. Hindsight! (The candy from that one wasn't even that great, but that's beside the point, I suppose.) She finally calmed down and we rocked a bit, then we both laid down for a nap (there's a twin bed in her room that I use on those type of occasions - she sleeps in a toddler bed). I don't think I fell asleep, but she had a good hour's nap.

Speaking of sleep, it's nine o'clock and pretty close to my bedtime. I haven't been getting enough sleep lately and had great hopes last night, but she woke up at 1am and Scout hacked up a hairball at 5:30, so it turned out to be not a great night. I decided to go back to work full-time next week and save the vacation time for when it's needed, since she's been doing so well at daycare and enjoys it, so I need to start getting ready for a full-time schedule. We need to go to early church tomorrow as I am in charge of getting the palms out for people to receive as they come into church. Good night! (or Good morning!, as Amanda says any time of the day!) =)